Ecoppia, a developer of automated, water-free photovoltaic (PV) solar panel cleaning solutions, has announced that its E4 robotic solar panel cleaning system is now fully operational on five additional PV production facilities in the Middle East, totalling more than 35 MW.

With these new systems in its portfolio, Ecoppia's E4 system is now cleaning approximately five million panels every month.

"Desert regions are prime candidates for solar PV, aside from one glaring issue: soiling. Reports indicate this phenomenon can reduce overall energy generation by as much as 40%, which significantly eats into a system owner's return on investment," said Eran Meller, CEO of Ecoppia.

Ecoppia's E4 robots were retrofitted onto the existing solar power plants, owned by Israeli solar developer Arava Power, in just six months.

Three of the systems are located in the Arava desert, a region that suffers from frequent dust storms originating in Saudi Arabia, with few rainy days to naturally wash the debris away. The remaining plants are in the Negev desert, an area that has significant dust blown in from the Sub-Sahara region, also with minimal rain. Prior to the E4 installation, each system was cleaned manually, requiring tens of millions of litres of water and costly manpower resources.

Ecoppia's robotic, water-free cleaning solution performs daily cleaning to remove 99% of dust on each panel and ensure a higher output from each plant. With the advanced E4 control system, supported by real-time and forecasted data from The Weather Channel, the systems can be programmed with a customised cleaning schedule for optimal results.